Many of you know that I am what some might call a connoisseur of a very specific trope of movies - the zombie flick! From "Shawn of the Dead," to "Zombieland," to my all time favorite "Dead Snow" (Sara?), I love a good cheesy zombie movie. Most modern zombie movies start the same way - a terrible virus hits the planet creating a plague of zombies intent on dining on as many brains as possible in as little time as possible. The virus is easily spread, infecting thousands, until it seems that only a small band of humans are left to fend off the shambling horde. I think you get the picture. What does this have to with DeMolay, though?Well friends, it seems that we have a zombie like virus going around in PA DeMolay. I have worked hard to to classify this disease, which I call "Websiteratum Lazitorum" - lazy websites! It is a plague that seems to have infected almost all of the Chapter websites out there and I have begun to feel like the guy with a shovel bashing in zombie heads when trying to round up these web sites.
This isn't to say that we don't want you to have a Chapter website - far from it! However, we want you to have an up to date website! There is nothing more frustrating than going on the internet, finding a website with exactly what you want, only to discover that it's 3 or 4 years old. Ugh! As an example of this disease, I will pick on my home Chapter - Erie. Erie has gone through many versions of its website; some were good, others were not. However, if you go to www.eriedemolay.org all you'll find is a blank Wordpress page. That's it! But, you're probably saying to yourself "Why is that such a big deal?"
*takes a sip of coffee and then does a spit take*Why is it such a big deal?! Because that website is the public face of your Chapter! Having out of date or no information available online is the same as having no website at all (and sometimes it's even worse to have bad information!)
There are two kinds of these website zombies. The first is like your traditional lumbering grey matter patron - a shell, with no content, no thought, and a blank stare. The current Erie website is one of these.
The second is like that moment in zombie movies when a person sees someone that he or she loves that has become a zombie. They recognize the person, but the afflicted have no memory of who they were and the people they loved. This would be the website with out of date information and a complete lack of updates.
What can you do to avoid becoming a web zombie? Simple - update your website! Find out who controls it and then find someone to start working on it. I know of very few Chapters that don't have a member who is at least a little bit web savvy. This is a great project for a DeMolay who can't make meetings because of other commitments, but wants to give something back to the Chapter. Arm him with a shovel and let him bash your web zombie into next year!
In all seriousness, though, our jurisdiction needs to take a hard look at the websites our Chapters have and get them updated. This topic isn't going to go away. You are going to see myself and "Dad" Labagh begin waging a crusade on these websites that even Jacques would have been proud to have been a part of. So, why not pre-empt us and start updating now!Frat!~"Dad" Seth Anthony
I am NOT a fan of zombie movies. I hate zombies like Indiana Jones hates snakes. Mostly, I hate the convention of the zombie movies that humans will stand in abject terror and scream at a slow-paced zombie relentlessly plodding after them when they can run faster and THINK with a working brain of ways to get away from, or do away with, the mindless and valuless zombies.
ReplyDeletePA DeMolay's website will no longer link to out of date sites, but that isn't enough. A dead website, or a hopelessly out of date website, is an embarrassment to DeMolay. If it isn't up-to-date, it should be. If it can't be updated, it should be removed.